Daily writing prompt

What are the most important things needed to live a good life?

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Once I heard a preacher say, “I want to hide behind the Cross so that people see Jesus, not me.” John the Baptist put it this way, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The old hymn, Rock of Ages, says, “Let me hide myself in Thee (Jesus).”

As a new Christ-follower during the Jesus Revolution a burning love for the risen Jesus was birthed within me and He became as real to me as my physical environment. More than anything I wanted to help others to experience the living Jesus in the same way. When I would pray for God to use me to make people aware of His glorious presence and reality on earth, a frightening prayer would come flowing out of me, “Lord, do whatever you need to do to me to be able to do what you want to do through me.”

After praying those words, I would be in shocked and stunned silence, in unbelief that I prayed such a thing. Then these words would silently sound within me, “Do you want to take that prayer back?” I would be very tempted to modify what I had prayed, but after an inward struggle I would say, “No, Lord. Have your way with me.”

Like all humans, I’ve had difficult times. Mine have been primarily emotional. Delay, disappointment, and rejection have crushed and tormented my heart too many times to count, as I’ve seen my hopes and dreams demolished (sometimes right when it looked like they were about to manifest). Against my will, I’ve been thrust into hiding. It recently happened again, and I have nowhere to turn but to the living, resurrected Jesus.

My inner devastation constantly drives me to Christ in me. He gives me hope that He is preparing me so that His light can shine so brightly in me that people will be able to behold the Lamb of God with such clarity that they are miraculously set free to continually adore, follow, and obey Jesus for the rest of their life.

“No turning back. No turning back.” I once wrote this poem:

Watching your “old man” die,
Makes you want to cry.
Seeing all your hopes and dreams
Take their wings and fly.
I know that “old man.”
His name is “myself,”
But I can’t help him now
He belongs to someone else.
Jesus, I gave myself to you
Go ahead and do
Whatever you want to
To me.